PSLE 2025 Oral – 2024 P5 SA2 Stimulus-Based Conversation Themes

The PSLE 2025 marks the start of the testing process of the key shifts in the English Examination Syllabus. The Ministry of Education’s aim in changing the English syllabus in 2025 is to help our future students manage the demands of the twenty-first century. With the rise in information technology and the need for better communication and higher order thinking skills, MOE hopes that schools can train our students to face the new world.

One of the ways that students can build on their communication and higher order skills is through the Oral component. Over the years, the Stimulus-based conversation (SBC) questions have slowly evolved from simply describing a picture, to giving personal recounts and expressing opinions. Now, more than ever, expressing one’s opinion on a variety of topics is essential.

With the higher weightage in the Oral component in 2025 – 40 marks instead of 30 marks, students will need to develop the skills necessary to score in this component. The Reading section is now out of 15 marks instead of 10 and the SBC section is out of 25 instead of 20 marks.

Reading passages do not just come in the form of simple short narratives with some dialogue like they used to, although the testing criteria remain the same. To test a student’s reading pitch, pace , tone, and voice projection, students will need to read not just narrative passages, but also passages in the form of a show-and-tell presentation, speech, advertisement, personal recount etc.

The photo stimulus in the SBC section is no longer in the form of a poster with or without information. It is now a ‘live’ picture of people doing something. The first picture is usually the same – What are the people in the picture doing? Or, how are the people in the picture feeling?

Students need to describe what is happening in the picture by inferring the people’s actions and expression on their faces. Students should also remember that they do not need to give too many details about the picture itself. Instead, focus on having a conversation about not only what the people are doing in the picture, but also about relating the theme to your personal lives. At TF, we advise our students to give a personal recount related to the theme after answering the teacher’s first question.

At TF, we started implementing the oral changes for our P5 students in 2024 to prepare them for their P5 SA2 Oral. We knew that our students would be tested with the changes in place and went to work gathering information on what exactly the changes were and how we could help our students.

We were thrilled when our P5 students scored well in their P5 Oral examination. This in turn would help boost their confidence in their P6 year. Now, as we begin to prepare our students for the PSLE 2025 Oral component, we are confident that we can guide them to the best of our ability.

Below is the list of some of the 2024 P5 Oral themes tested during our students’ SA2 Oral examination last year. Many schools used the same picture stimulus and themes but altered the questions slightly.

Take note of:

• The Picture Stimulus given
• The themes tested
• The first question asked
• The main question types asked – mostly Opinion type questions.

We hope that the list below will help parents understand the type of SBC picture and questions their children will be tested on for PSLE 2025.

2024 P5 SA2 Oral Themes

Theme: Chores

Picture : Family tidying in their living room

Q1 : Look at the picture, how do you think the people in the picture are feeling?

Q2 : How often does your family clean the house?

Q3 : Do you like your things neat and tidy?

Q4 : Do you think that it is important to help out at home?

Theme: Book Swap

Picture : Children exchanging books

Q1 : Look at the picture, how do you think the girls in the picture are feeling? Why?

Q2 : What activities have you do in your school library or public library?

Q3 : Do you prefer new books or second hand books?

Q1 : Look at the picture, would you like to participate in this project?

Q2 : How do you know that the girl with her back facing you is excited?

Q3 : Do you prefer hard copy books or soft copy books?

Q4 : Do you often go to the school library? Why or why not?

Q5 : What do you do in your free time?

Theme: Teamwork

Picture : Students working together on a team project

Q1 : What are the students doing in the picture?

Q2 : Do you enjoy working in a group?

Q3 : If there is no teamwork in a group, do you think that you can succeed?

Q1 : What are the students doing in the picture?

Q2 : Do you like working in a group? Why or why not?

Q3 : Share with me your most recent field trip.

Q4 : Tell me about the most recent group project that you have done with your classmates.

Theme: Sports

Picture : Students playing a game

Q1 : What are the people in the picture feeling?

Q2 : Do you like sports? Why or why not?

Q3 : Do you think that it is important for children to do sports?